Mon, 8 Jun 2009
empirica researcher Jörg Artmann was invited to this year's Health Information Technologies Congress in Paris to present and discuss results of the eHealth Benchmarking and Good Practice eHealth studies. Together with fellow discussants Martin Denz, president of EHTEL and Pascal Garel, president of HOPE, the current eHealth situation in Europe and the challenges related to measuring eHealth progress were critically reviewed. A short analytical paper on the challenges related to measuring eHealth is available under the title: "Mesurer le progrès dans le domaine de la e-Santé Benchmarking et « bonnes pratiques »" (eHealth Benchmarking and Good Practices), written by Jörg Artmann with the support of Ingo Meyer and Maike Didero, empirica GmbH.
For more information see www.health-it.fr
Download as pdf file: Mesurer le progrès dans le domaine de la e-Santé Benchmarking et « bonnes pratiques »
Mon, 08 Jun 2009
The French results of the ICT and eHealth survey among General Practitoners are now available in a French translation under the title: "Analyse comparative sur l’usage des TIC par les médecins généralistes européens en 2007." The translation was kindly prepared by Jean-Jacques Fraslin and is available on the website of i-med.fr.
Download as pdf file: French translation of country profile
Mon, 19 May 2008
On May 19, 2008, one year after its launch, the ePractice.eu portal celebrated a Mid-Term workshop. Werner B. Korte, empirica gave the key note speech on eHealth by way of presenting results of the study "ICT and eHealth use among General Practitioners in Europe" carried out for the European Commission DG INFSO and Media. The study included a survey of almost 7,000 primary care physicians on their use of ICT and internet for communication with patients and between primary and secondary care and other health agencies was carried out in 2007 in all 27 Member States of the European Union and in Norway and Iceland. The one-day event was held in Brussels, in the European Commission’s premises, with the presence of high-level officials responsible of the eGovernment, eInclusion and eHealth European policies and relevant experts from the private and public sectors.
Tue, 13 May 2008
The study carried out for the European Commission DG INFSO and Media included a survey of almost 7,000 primary care physicians on their use of ICT and internet for communication with patients and between primary and secondary care and other health agencies was carried out in 2007 in all 27 Member States of the European Union and in Norway and Iceland. The purpose of the study was to: measure the use of ICT by primary care physicians in the EU and EEA countries, which is to be achieved by means of a survey of primary care physicians and their use of ICT and Internet for communicating with patients and between primary and secondary care and other eHealth agencies. Through this survey up-to-date information and data on eHealth developments was obtained, thereby - and through the 29 Country Briefs for each of the 27 Member States, Norway and Iceland - enabling member states to monitor their performance to improve public services. The study was a continuation of the earlier benchmarking exercise for eEurope 2002.
The presentation, the final report and the 29 Country Profiles are available on the study website www.ehealth-indicators.eu and also on the European Commission i2010 website
An interview with the project manager Werner B. Korte, empirica can be found here:
Interview with the project manager Werner B. Korte
At the European eHealth Conference in Slovenia, the European Commission has presented the results of a pan-European survey, showing that European doctors increasingly store and send patients' data such as lab reports electronically. 87% of European general practitioners (GPs) use a computer, 69% are connected to the Internet, and of these 69% with a broadband connection. HealthTech Wire talked to Werner B. Korte, director at the research and consulting firm empirica, about the study results and how general practitioners could make better use of eHealth applications such as telemonitoring, electronic prescriptions and cross-border medical services.
Published: 05/07
- (HealthTech Wire) - Which results of the study did you find most surprising?
Despite the wide availability of a computer and an Internet connection, these are not yet regularly used for patient encounters and paper-based data handling is still prevalent in many GP practices. It is most striking in areas like the transfer of data to reimbursing institutions or medical data transfer to other healthcare providers where the difference between the availability and actual use – the readiness-use gap – amounts to a substantial 54% and 59% respectively. Another striking example is the use of a computer to show patients any health-related information during consultation, which is only practiced by 14% of the GPs in Europe, although 87% could do so. The survey results also contain some good news for European and national policy makers in the eHealth area – in countries with clear policies and strategies, these seem to have had and continue to have a positive impact on the spread of eHealth use.
The study has shown that European doctors often exchange data electronically with laboratories (40%), but less so with other health centres (10%). What is the reason for this?
There seem to be some established approaches to the division of labour between GPs and labs, but not yet with other care providers. However, the survey results also show that Europe is on the right track in this area since, for instance, the share of GPs exchanging medical data with other healthcare providers has increased significantly, tripling from 9% to 27% between 2002 and 2007.
Doctors not using ICT cite a lack of training and technical support as major barriers. How could training and support be improved and how can healthcare IT companies help eliminate these barriers?
The inclusion of eHealth in the curricula of medical education, more IT training for GPs by way of making it part of continuous medical education (CME) and continuous professional development (CPD), and the wider use of clinical information networks by all health actors to share patient data would foster a further spread of eHealth applications. These are seen as the most important measures to be taken and it's a view also shared by most of the GPs surveyed. By assuring seamless interoperability among their various systems, proven by certification, and cooperating towards the development of a single European eHealth market, industry could play a leading role in this process and improve its competitive position globally.
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© 2008, HealthTech Wire
http://www.healthtechwire.com/Pressrelease.146+M524d9d64510.0.html
Study for the European Commission - Information Society and Media Directorate General, C1 as part of the Commission's benchmarking activities for i2010
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